1923] SKINNER, WYANDOT CORN FOODS 111 



DEER CLAN NAMES 

 Female Names Male Names 



1, Trai'wa, "Escaped Deer." 1, Tro"eyta"'se, "Round-the-sky." 



2, Yaronyea'wi, ? 



The first and second female names of the Porcupine clan, as listed 

 above, were given to Mrs. Skinner and Miss Skinner respectively, 

 being the names of their grandmother and grand-aunt respectively.^^ 



They are also, as the following notes will show, still in possession 

 of a number of recipes for aboriginal foods. 



Ne'hi'^tawe. This is one of the favorite foods of the Wyandot and 

 is especially palatable, so much so, that the writer brought a quantity 

 to Milwaukee on his return for home consumption. This is an ancient 

 dish indeed, and is mentioned under the same name by the Jesuit 

 Lejeune in his relation of the Huron Missions nearly three hundred 

 years ago. This food was constantly set before us in Oklahoma, 

 when guests at Wyandot homes. 



In preparing this food, a trench is dug about a foot wide, a foot in 

 depth, and as long as required. A fire is built throughout its length 

 and when this has burned to embers, a long green pole is laid length- 

 wise along the top of the pit and husked green corn is stood up against 

 it until parched. Then the corn is removed, cut from the cob, and 

 spread in the sun to dry for several days. When desired for eating, 

 it is boiled for three or four hours in a kettle, with a soup bone added 

 for seasoning. 



AsrHnte' or ashrunte\ This is another popular dish. They take 

 the milk ears of corn, when just hardened, and either shell them or 

 cut the kernels from the cob. These are placed in water to which 

 wood ashes have been added to form lye and are kept there for about 

 twenty minutes, or until the outer covering of the kernel slips. The 

 corn is then washed and dried. It is later boiled and eaten, especially 

 as a winter food. 



Skda^. This is another exceedingly popular food. Roasting ears 

 are taken before they have become hard and the kernels are cut off, 

 or, in former times, scraped off with a deer's jaw. The deer's jaw 

 opened up the kernels better than a knife does, so when a knife is 

 used, the kernels have to be split before they are cut off. The corn is 

 then placed in a pan and baked, after which it is cooled off and crum- 



"The writer was taken into the Deer clan, as the tribal laws require all marriages to be made out- 

 side of the clans of the contracting parties, and was given the name "Round-the-sky," which has a 

 reference to the creation myth of the Wyandot, when it is said, the deer fought the bear, and ran 

 "Around the sky." 



